Thursday, September 23, 2010

Julia Reviews "Wicked Intentions" by Elizabeth Hoyt

Title/Author: Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt
Publisher/Year Published: 2010 by Grand Central Publishing
How I got this book: This book was provided free for review by the publisher
Why I read this book: All of Elizabeth Hoyt's books that I have read were awesome and original.
Rating: 5 stars

I read romance novels. I am not afraid or ashamed to say so. I even take them out in public to read them. Like any other genre, there a good romance novels with developed characters and great plots riveting enough to wonder if that happy ending really is going to happen, and then there are bad novels that you wish you could bleach your brain into forgetting you ever read such tripe. Wicked Intentions is the former.

The book starts off following our heroine, Temperance as she collects another baby to add to her orphanage. This bring the grand total of the children up to 27, and Temperance and her brother, Winter, are running out of money. Enter our hero, the shady Lord Caire. He offers to help her find a patron for their house if she helps him travel around the St. Giles part of London as he searches for a murderer.

I was intrigued. First off, this is a historical romance that is not set among high society. (gasp!) We are in the slums in an orphanage following the characters around as they try to solve the mystery of a dead prostitute. One point for the interesting and unique plot.

Also, we have Temperance. From the context clues I had, I deduced that she is some sort of Puritan (black clothes, religious, her siblings are also names after other virtues.. seriously one is named Silence) which again makes this book super intriguing. You see, she is a widow and thus has already been introduced to the more carnal side of marriage. She feels guilt for her past lust and is dealing with that throughout the course of this novel.

Which in my mind brings up an interesting point about women and sexuality. If we are too sexual we are branded whores, sluts, easy. But through her interactions with Lord Caire, Temperance discovers her sexuality and comes to the realization that it is not bad or evil, a message that I think some women need to hear today, as well.

Quick side note: When I was reading this novel, I couldn't help but think of names and naming things. The characters names took me quite a while to get used to (Silence, Winter, Temperance). Also the children in the orphanage were all names Mary or Joseph something. Talk about a missed opportunity! I was giving them all more awesome names in my head. Does having strange names for main characters ever bother anyone else? What was the strangest name you have come across?

Strange names or not, Wicked Intentions has a great plot, a wonderful murder mystery, very hot sex scenes (Elizabeth Hoyt seriously does these great in every book of hers that I've read), strong characters and an interesting premise for future books in the series. If you are looking for a book that is a great escape as well as great reading (and are not afraid of a little sex) check out Wicked Intentions. I will definitely be picking up the next book in her series.

8 comments:

  1. I kind of love romance books, but only good ones. If the story doesn't pull me in I put the book down. This one sounds good! Perhaps I will add it to the TBR.

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  2. I love a good romance as well! This one sounds promising.
    The weirdest character name I've ever come across was Jo.Zee, for a guy (I mean seriously? I couldn't take this book serious after that).

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  3. I heard a lot of good reviews on Elizabeth Hoyt's books. I've never read her books but I'll definitely start reading one. Thanks for this review. =)

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  4. Bleech your brain - well said! ;") - and somewhat painful,too.. :")

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  5. Good! I am glad to hear you all will give Hoyts books a chance. I am pretty sure I've read them all, and have liked every one.

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  6. I'm not a huge fan of romance but this does sound pretty intriguing.

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  7. Michelle, I love romances where the romance is there but there still is an actual plot to move things along. I've actually come to the point where if it is just a misunderstanding plot I get bored.

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  8. Does having strange names for main characters ever bother anyone else?

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